the quarter sized gigabyte
Written: Feb 10 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: tiny unit, yet massive storage capabilities
Cons: power hungry and frail
The Bottom Line: the ibm microdrive is the perfect solution for digital camera users who can use it.
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| wilco42's Full Review: IBM MicroDrive |
in late 2000, ibm unveiled their largest smallest hard drive to the public. the largest smallest? that's right, the ibm microdrive is slightly larger than the size of a quarter, yet is capable of holding 1 gigabyte of space. the microdrive was widely touted as being the storage for PDAs and the ever growing digital camera market.
after i purchased a canon eos d30 digital camera, it became clear that the 16MB compact flash card supplied with the camera would not suffice, especially when each image is roughly 1.5MB! 10 pictures and you can't take anymore? ridiculous! compact flash cards are an expensive medium, however, usually pricing out to $1.50 per megabyte of space. that with the limited size of compact flash cards, some other medium needs to take its place. this is where the ibm microdrive steps in.
pros:
the microdrive uses CF+ Type II
ibm has radically changed the market for small devices that require large amounts of hard drive space. the ibm microdrive utilizes the well-established CF+ Type II standard. what does this mean? this means that PDAs and digital cameras equipped with the CF+ Type II slot can use the microdrive. the number of devices that have this slot built in continue to grow rapidly.
the microdrive is TINY
this is a perfect storage solution for digital cameras and PDAs because the design of the device is not dictated by the size of the media. some digital cameras use floppy disks as their medium to store images. this limits the size of the image to be captured to be 1.44MB and the write time to the disk is considerably slow. that, on top of having to change disks every few pictures, makes cameras that utilize a disk-based medium as tedious. other digital cameras have opted for a CDR media to write the images. though CDR media is cheap, fairly fast to write, the size of the camera is ridiculous.
the microdrive is HUGE
tiny and huge at the same time, the microdrive is a bit of a paradox. it's physical size is tiny, but the relative amount of hard drive space it can hold is amazingly large. the microdrive comes in 340MB, 512MB, and 1GB flavors.
the microdrive is smart
something that has always plagued hard drive manufacturers is the unreliability of hard drives. hard drives have moving parts and over time, moving parts can wear out. hard drives in particular have little heads that read sectors off a platter. parts of the platter may go corrupt resulting in bad sectors. a bad sector is bad news for data because you will lose data. ibm has implemented an interesting strategy to combat this. the microdrive checks for bad sectors as it writes data to the disk, and if it finds a bad sector while writing, it'll make note of it in the drive's internal controller and write around the bad data.
the microdrive is easy to read
you can purchase a microdrive travel kit. the travel kit contains a PCMCIA card reader so you can slip the microdrive into the PCMCIA card reader and pop it into your laptop to download the images quickly. now there is no need to get an external CF+ card reader.
cons:
the microdrive consumes more power than compact flash cards
instead of using flash memory, the microdrive really is a small hard drive. this means the platter needs to be spinning (at a whopping 4500RPM) and a drive head needs to be reading data off the platter. this does consume more power than accessing data off flash memory. from my personal observations, it appears that the 1GB microdrive consumes about 20% more power than a compact flash card. i use the microdrive exclusively in my digital camera, and the convenience of the hard drive space far outweighs the extra battery drain.
some microdrives on the market are "buggy"
it appears that the original 340MB microdrives may have some sort compatibilities issues with devices. if you have problems with a 340MB drive, return it and ask for a new one. this generally solves most people's problems with the 340MB model.
there also appears to be some problems with the 1GB model in some digital cameras. the 1GB microdrive works flawlessly in my canon eos d30, but other people have reported horrid experiences in other digital cameras. whether it is an implementation incompatibility on the CF+ type II standard by the camera or by IBM is unclear, but your best bet is to do research on your particular device before investing in the microdrive.
the microdrive is a frail
because of the size of the microdrive, it is highly susceptible to damage should you drop it or expose it to extreme ambient conditions. the microdrive has been reported to not work at all in elevations of 10,000+ feet and you can potentially damage the drive if you attempt to operate at these elevations. why? the microdrive needs air to float the drive heads above the platter and at higher elevations the density of the air is too little to carry the drive heads above the platters and you may crash the disk. the moral: don't take pictures with a microdrive if you are climbing mount everest!
conclusions:
the microdrive is an excellent storage solution for people looking for massive amounts of data storage in tiny spaces. the microdrive is really suited for small devices, though, and i do not recommend it as a portable storage device because the media is fragile and expensive. it's much easier and cheaper to burn CDRs if you just want to transport data.
for digital camera owners, especially higher end models, the microdrive is a godsend. no longer are you forced to change CF cards every 20 pictures, you now have the liberty to shoot and shoot and shoot. i highly recommend the microdrive to anyone who is considering purchasing additional memory for their digital cameras, with one caveat: check for device compatibility! also, look for fujifilm digital film branded microdrives. they typically come with the travel kit and are cheaper than ibm boxed microdrives. it's the same device, it just comes in a different box.
for handheld and PDA owners, you can dramatically change the amount of data you carry with you. but when it comes down to it, the only reason i really see anyone needing this much space on their handheld is because they just want a larger collection of MP3s on their handheld to carry around with them. is the price tag associated with the media worth it? that really depends on how big of a jukebox you want, i suppose.
Recommended:
Yes
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wilco42
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Member: Mike Tanaka
Location: san jose, ca
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